Are umpires squeezing Yu Darvish, Rangers pitchers?

Yu Darvish's fourth start of the season tonight against the New York Yankees is intriguing on several levels:

Texas Rangers-Yankees is an early-season matchup of first-place teams and one of the unbeaten Darvish's two victories already is against the Detroit Tigers, another division leader.

He's matched up with Hiroki Kuroda, the Japanese pitcher in the major leagues he's most compared with because of their penchant for attacking the strike zone.

But Darvish is walking 6.62 batters per nine innings, the highest rate in the majors for pitchers who qualify in the ERA title race. He's not the worst among starting pitchers because Minnesota's Francisco Liriano, Kansas City's Jonathan Sanchez and Baltimore's Brian Matusz have been so ineffective they don't have enough innings to qualify.

Which all brings us to the possibility Rangers pitchers might not be getting their fair share of strikes.

BaseballAnalytics.org came up with data, prior to this week's Rangers-Yankees series, that shows Darvish ranks last among American League starters in getting pitches in the strike zone actually called strikes. Furthermore, Texas starters are four of the unluckiest 11 on that list.

Not that it's exactly hurting the Rangers. Even after losing to the Yankees on Monday, they're tied with the Dodgers for the best record in the majors at 13-4. Their rotation is 10-2 with 2.7 WAR (wins above replacement) that is second to the Washington Nationals.

But when batters don't swing at Darvish's pitches, only two-thirds (66.7%) of those in the strike zone have been called strikes. The overall rate among American League starters is 78%, with Dan Haren of the Los Angeles Angels getting the best of the calls at 90.2%.

So, maybe Darvish hasn't been guilty of the nibbling of which Japanese predecessor Daisuke Matsuzaka was -- with merit -- accused. Remember, in "Dice-K's" best year -- his 18-3 performance in 2008 -- he lead the AL in most walks and fewest hits per nine innings. If ever there was a guy trying to avoid bats ... but he never had a walk rate higher than 5.5 per nine in any season.

Darvish is new, with pitch movement that coaches and opponents rave about. Could the umpires need to get used to seeing his "stuff?" But Tampa Bay's Matt Moore, Darvish's rival for most talented and intriguing new pitcher this year, is getting 82.2% of strike calls, fifth-best in the league.

Conspiracy theorists can cross off any anti-Japanese sentiment. Kuroda ranks eighth at 80.4%.

The issue -- if it truly is one considering the relatively small sample size of barely three weeks -- goes beyond Darvish. The entire Rangers rotation is throwing 49.4% strikes, fourth-highest rate in the majors (behind the White Sox, A's and Nationals).

Yet there are Neftali Feliz, Derek Holland and Colby Lewis among the bottom third of starters getting their fair share of called strikes entering Monday's game. And PitchFX data from Monday's game shows plate umpire Tim McClelland was particularly tough on all pitchers, calling balls on 16 pitches PitchFX showed inside the strike zone and calling strikes on only four shown outside the zone. Six of those called balls were thrown by Holland, five by Yankees starter CC Sabathia.

"Pitchers who are very erratic, going to 3-2 counts all the time, are the most difficult," says former major league umpire Dave Phillips. "You have to really bear down. Nolan Ryan (Rangers owner) would drive me crazy, walk seven, strike out 18, go 3-2 on everybody."

Phillips says catchers can have a great effect than pitchers on how pitches are called.

"A guy who's real smooth back there, not boxing the ball all over the place, can make a gigantic difference," Phillips says. "He makes his pitcher look good and the umpire feel comfortable."

The Rangers can't even turn to their own catchers for an explanation. Baseball Prospectus recently has been dissecting the long-prevalent theory that catchers adept at framing pitches can help their pitchers get borderline calls. The studies by Prospectus and others, using data since 2007, indicate this concept is far more than unsubstantiated baseball lore.

A breakdown last September of pitches over nearly five seasons showed that, through whatever methods, most catchers were consistent in how many extra strikes they got -- and lost -- for their pitchers. Rangers catcher Mike Napoli regularly shows up near the bottom of the list. But Yorvit Torrealba, who has started 10 Rangers games to Napoli's seven, ranks third in the majors in getting extra strikes behind Tampa Bay's Jose Molina and the Yankees' Russell Martin. . (Is Molina's ability to frame pitches a partial explanation for Moore and second-year Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson among the Top 5 in getting called strikes?)

The Prospectus study credits Torrealba with saving 40.6 runs over the five seasons, Napoli with costing 24.3 runs.

Whatever the causes, up next for Darvish is Ted Barrett, scheduled to umpire behind the plate tonight. He had the second-largest strike zone in the majors last season, according to a study published by The Hardball Times.

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